Review: The Friend Zone by Tabetha Thompson

Tormented by a past relationship that she can’t seem to escape, Chloe feels like her only option is to swear off men completely. Two years later, the self-imposed “man-ban”is still going strong, but then Skye walks back into her life. Skye left Bartow thirteen years ago an awkward, pimple-faced boy who didn’t quite fit in, but the man that returns evokes a white-hot fire of desire in her.

Chloe is the only woman Skye has ever loved and he’s not about to let her slip through his fingers again. She may want to put him in the friend zone, but he knows her desire for him is simmeringjust below the surface. Just when Skye thinks he’s finally broken down the walls of stone around Chloe’s heart, something happens that will leave them both devastated and broken. Are they strong enough to survive?

When I said that I don't really read blurbs, I made an exception on this one. I read its blurb before I signed up for the blog tour and I must say, it captured and lured me in. I, however, missed out the bit that says this is a New Adult title. I wouldn't know until the chapters toward the end though. And I tell you, I am now 24 but New Adult really isn't for me. I still have the kid inside and I'm accustomed to just reading Children's Lit to Young Adult and Chick Lit, with the exception of my Philippine Lit collection, and I read them just because I feel a certain connection with works written by my fellowmen, so when I learned that I'm faced with a task to read about intimacy and love making, I stopped for a while but then realized that I must go on for I never want to leave any book unfinished.

"Aw, how sweet. A man who blushes. I thought they were just mythical creatures."

This is a story of two individuals who could have been together in high school, only if situations are any better. It is written in changing points of view so as to take us into the minds of our main characters, Chloe and Skye. I like Chloe very much, she is the quintessential alpha female, strong-willed and confident. Skye though is your typical hot guy in the band, I can't fathom the fact that their band don't have a lead guitarist however. Changing POVs is the one thing I liked in Cohn and Levithan's Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist which is one of my favorite books of all time, it didn't work that way in this book, unfortunately. It came to a point that it has become confusing. It didn't help that while changing the POVs, the book keeps repeating scenes previously narrated by the other main character. That might work for others but it didn't sit well with me. The changing POVs just served as an instant affirmation. Chloe is very confident to the point that she thinks that Skye is going crazy over her. Now, we have Skye's POV telling us what Chloe thinks is true. I don't know about you, but that's cheating to me. It's understandable when Chloe says Skye ignored all the 'desperate' women because of her, but when it's Skye turn to tell us the story and he refers to the women as desperate, all hell broke loose inside me.

"Rugged and tough, he's one of those people you either love or hate."

Another thing bothering me is the fact that Tom, Chloe's bestfriend is the character I like most in this book. Is it my underdog syndrome again or is it because the author built up a connection between them that you can't just help but root for them to end up with each other even the bestfriend-turned-lovers trope is everywhere nowadays. The way Chloe talks to Tom, the way she reprimands her bestfriend by calling him by his full name, even the time she said that Tom has been her savior more than once - these are things that actually makes a real relationship only to get crush by the way Chloe and Skye talks about Tom, making us think he's not straight.

I'm rating this with the New Adult market in mind, though. The steamy scenes I must say, is nothing but hot and if that's what you want then grab this right away. I'm giving this three stars for its potential. I think I'd like this more without the sizzling scenes, but maybe, just maybe, New Adult really isn't for me.